H.S. LACROSSE: Bridgewater-Raynham boys down Barnstable

Thursday

May 29, 2014 at 11:39 PMMay 29, 2014 at 11:45 PM

The fifth-seeded Trojans get fourth-period goals from Matt Miller and Travis Reid and eliminate the Red Raiders from the Division 1 South tournament, 9-7, on Thursday. B-R will play at Wellesley in the quarterfinal round on Monday at 5 p.m.

Jim Fenton The Enterprise @JFenton_ent

BRIDGEWATER – They had met twice in the span of four weeks during the Maritime League regular season this spring.

The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High boys lacrosse team swept Barnstable High by scores of 7-3 and 17-5 on the way to the No. 5 seed in the Division 1 South Sectional.

Then, went the tournament pairings were announced earlier this week, the Trojans found themselves matched up against the 12th-seeded Red Raiders one more time.

“I was really nervous,’’ said B-R coach Matt Connolly. “We knew beating a team three times in the same season is really difficult to do.

“We know so much about each other. Chris (Whidden, the Barnstable coach) and I were joking about it before the game. You know everything the other one is going to do.’’

That was apparent on Thursday when the Trojans and Red Raiders met in the first round as B-R did not have an easy time before finally emerging with a third win over Barnstable.

Senior Matt Miller broke a 7-7 tie with 9:09 remaining and Travis Reid added an insurance goal, allowing the Trojans to get by the Red Raiders, 9-7.

B-R moves into the quarterfinal round where it will play at fourth-seeded Wellesley on Monday at 5 p.m.

Miller, a defenseman, went from one end of the field to the other to score his unassisted game-winning goal, racing past Barnstable players and beating goalkeeper Nick Passalugo.

“If he gets the ball, get out of the way. He can fly,’’ said Connolly, whose team is 17-2. “He’s just an amazing athlete. He’s the fastest kid on the team. You saw what he does when he gets the ball.

“We just clear out. Everybody get out of the way and (he) just runs. He gets separation on anyone that’s riding on him.’’

That score gave B-R an 8-7 lead, and Reid netted his fourth goal with 5:10 to go, giving the Trojans some breathing room with goalkeeper Kyle Taylor keeping Barnstable off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

The Trojans had opened a 7-4 lead early in the third period before Mike McDonough scored three of his five goals, bringing the Red Raiders even with 10:29 remaining in the game.

“I was a little nervous they might get deflated,’’ said Connolly of his team, “but they got up. I was joking with (the Barnstable coach) before the game. It doesn’t matter if it’s football, lacrosse, hockey, probably Frisbee, these kids would get up for it, Barnstable vs. B-R.

“These kids just knew. You’ve got to keep fighting, got to keep grinding, and they did. I’m really proud of this group, very proud of this team. The senior leadership on this team has been incredible.’’

Barnstable stunned B-R in the opening 1:49 of the game, jumping to a 2-0 lead on goals by Ben Barattiai and McDonough, and after Gavin Perry scored the first of his three goals for the Trojans, Jake Kaczynski gave the Red Raiders a 3-1 edge 4:30 into the game.

“Groundballs were going to be a huge part of it,’’ said Connolly. “I counted, they went 4-0 on the first four groundballs and they were up, 2-0, within the first two minutes.

“I said, ‘Guys, you’ve got to buckle down on the groundballs.’ It sounds kind of trite but sometimes you’ve got to convince the kids, hey, it’s still important. We got better at that and were able to posses the ball a little bit.’’

B-R held a 4-3 lead after one period with Reid scoring three goals in the final 2:21. The Trojans were in front, 6-4, at halftime as Perry scored twice in the second period, and an unassisted goal by Matt Cicalis opened the margin to 7-4 less than three minutes into the third period.

For the second year in a row, B-R has won its tourney opener after going 0-3 in the previous trips to the postseason.

“It’s huge,’’ said Connolly, whose program begain in 2009. “It’s exciting after going 0-3 the first few times in. The kids have something to be proud of.’’

Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.